Thank You'
by Beechy
Summary: Just a little one-shot, kind of Valduggery, but not really. There might be more of them. Awful summary. Sorry.


**Umm yeah so basically, enjoy! Please review!**

The air exploded outwards, throwing her off her feet. Valkyrie felt herself roll sideways, closer to the ledge, overlooking the murky abyss below. She was vaguely aware of Skulduggery and Ghastly somewhere to her left, still battling with the warlock, shifting air and manipulating fire, but apparently in vain; she felt the heat of the yellow light bursting from the warlock and shut her eyes to the glare, curling up in a ball. She heard a sharp wince and soon realised it was her own, evidently one of her ribs was broken. Another added injury to the current list of a suspected punctured lung, shattered wrist and broken leg. And this had all been achieved within the last five minutes.

But she managed to turn her attention to the warlock, who - having previously battered both Skulduggery and Ghastly to the ground, with the air of one swatting an irksome fly – was now stalking towards her, already dislocating and widening his own jaw, attempting to feast.

Last time, Valkyrie had regained feeling in the lower half of her body before the warlock had managed to eat. Last time, she had managed to throw him off and slam her forehead into his own. Last time, the warlock had eventually self-destructed. Last time, she got lucky. Last time, however, she did not have a broken rib, shattered wrist, broken arm and suspected punctured lung.

The warlock's fangs were beginning to lengthen, and Skulduggery, paralysed just a few feet to the left, was powerless to stop it. Her mind screamed at her to get up, but her body was inevitably unresponsive. Valkyrie began to panic, as the warlock completed his transformation.

She expected, by some stroke of luck, Skulduggery to break free of the invisible chains holding him down and launch onto the warlock, or for feeling to return to her fingers, so as to slash open his face with shadows stored inside the ring. But neither of these things happened, and yet, she was still surprised when, moments later, the warlock opened his mouth and ripped a large, piece of her flesh from the shoulder. A terrible scream filled the air, Valkyrie knew full well who's it was, she felt blinding white pain and the pitch of her screeches heightened, but soon the darkness enveloped her.

OOO

Valkyrie awoke in a strange bed, in a strange room, next to a window offering a strange view of somewhere she didn't recognise. But the feeling of unfamiliarity soon left as the pungent, metallic smell of meat gone bad reached her and she looked up to see the bandaged, nose-less face of Doctor Nye staring down at her own, it's wide gaping mouth fixed into the love child of a sneer and a smile. If that was possible.

'If you're lucky, there'll be no scarring. Broken bones and punctured organs I can fix, but replacing flesh is a little more… unorthodox… I shamelessly look forward to it.'

Valkyrie mustered a groan, and made a mental note to punch him right in his smug mouth when she was out of this cursed bed. Or at least get Skulduggery to do it for her.

Speak of the devil himself, her thoughts were interrupted as Skulduggery - impeccably dressed in a navy pin-striped suit and tie, a matching hat held loosely in his gloved hand – strode into the room, his eyes lingering for a moment on Valkyrie's seemingly sleeping form. He motioned to Doctor Nye,

'Get out.'

Nye sneered, 'Dectective Pleasant, aside from the fact that I am, as we have already discussed, sanctuary approved, therefore sanctuary protected, detective Cain is in need of urgent medical atten-'

'One of your more trustworthy assistants can see to that.' Skulduggery replied, his voice firm. 'So similarly, leave.'

Nye scowled, but only for a moment, 'but of course.' And promptly left.

Skulduggery made it across the room to the chair at Valkyrie's bedside in no less than two strides.

'So sanctuary personnel intervened before the warlock could eat you then?' She asked. It was supposed to be mildly funny, but there was only a hint of a smile to her weary monotone.

'Well observed. Why do you ask?'

'There's a chunk missing from my shoulder and there weren't many options for conversation starters.'

'In future, don't use closed questions.'

'What?'

'The ones that can only be answered with yes and no'

'Oh, right.'

He cocked his head. 'I actually expected an alternative answer. Consisting of a waterfall of undisguised sarcasm and the fact that I am not a grammar teacher.'

'Yeah, well like I said, there is an actual hole in my shoulder after it was devoured. Oddly enough, I'm not really in the mood for snide remarks and egotistical skeletons, sorry to disappoint,' she spat, all attempts at humour gone.

He was quiet for a long while, the sunlight gleaming off his skull. She instantly regretted her words.

'I apologise. I didn't realise,' Skulduggery got up from the chair, 'I'll leave you now, you should rest.'

'No, wait, I'm sorry, I'm just exhausted, getting eaten really takes it out of you.'

She could feel him smile, 'I'm sure.'

Valkyrie decided to change the subject, 'How's Ghastly? Was he paralysed too?'

'Yes, but not for long, he'll live. As will you.'

She grinned 'I'm sure.'

His voice softened, 'But, are you alright?'

She was slightly taken aback, 'Sure, I'm grand, I'll be fine.'

'Only, like you said, you _were_ eaten.'

'Yep, it was very insightful.'

'Valkyrie, I know that we've had similar discussions in the past, but I'm determined that this one has an alternate conclusion -' But suddenly she knew what was coming next.

'No.' She said. 'No, Stop right there. Because there is no way you're going to convince me - just because a small amount of flesh is currently missing from my shoulder – that I'm about to leave all of this behind. This, magic, Ghastly, Tanith, _you,_ is the greatest thing that has happened to me. You're right, this isn't the first time you've tried to goad me into forgetting all of this. I meant what I said that time at the Dublin Sanctuary, after Croke Park. Even if I wanted to, I couldn't. I can't leave behind Darquesse, the prophecy. I'm stuck with you whether you like it or not. Until the very end. So deal with it.'

For the second time in the past twenty minutes, Skulduggery was lost for words.

'Okay.' He said at last.

'Okay?'

'Alright. You've proved your point. I'm stuck with you. As daunting as that prospect is -'

He was cut off as Valkyrie threw a pillow at him.

'That.' He said, as excess feathers floated around his skull 'Was uncalled for.'

Soon, feathers coated every surface in the room. Valkyrie grinned rather sheepishly. Skulduggery's expression, as always, stayed a permanent grin.

'Thank you.' Valkyrie said.

'What for?'

'Everything.' She replied simply.


End file.
